This trip was not about covering lots of ground but maximizing fishing time. None of this too tired to fish bs. Hiking days were short and fishing days long. Mid way we began to wonder if we could be satiated with fishing but every morning was greeted with enthusiasm for the fishing adventure to come. Markskor and I were packed in 14 miles on horseback then began to fish our way past 25 lakes in about 30 miles of backpacking and day hiking over the next 2 weeks. There was no smoke but occasional rain, with one day of rain, snow, hail that kept us tent bound. Wildflowers were outstanding as was the fishing. 15 inch cutthroats and rainbows became "oh hum" with only 17 to 18"+ becoming a notable fish. The following post is a pictorial with brief comments which will have to do instead of full TR for now.

Toxaway lake 1/2 way to our first days destination

Colorful 16" Cutt, first night

Vernon Lake

Markskor, Ardeth Lake

White Flowers near Vernon Lake Campsite

Tiny Purple Flowers

18" Rainbow

10 Lakes Basin, Upper Reaches of S. Fork Payette River

paintbrush and penstemon, at last flowers we could recognize!

Ingeborg Lake

Approaching Low Pass

Fat 17" Cutt

to be continued

mike

Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!

Sunset from under our cooking tarp. 11/2 lb 10x12 tarp made the rain we experienced much more tolerable than would have otherwise been possible.

Outside the tarp the sunset was even more spectacular

Flytrip Basin, our next destination

Wary black bear. Watched him for several minutes before he noticed us. By the way no one hangs food in the Sawtooths! We did but to keep away from the little critters.

Another 18" Rainbow, dinner for 2!

Evening view from Flytrip Campsite, no flies but just enough skeeters to be annoying

Heart Lake

Talus slog next to last moving day

On the divide between the Boise and Salmon River drainages. Looking down Alpine Creek

View from our last campsite

Given my internet research we expected to catch cutthroats, rainbows, cutbows, brookies, goldens and greyling. the only fish we did not actually catch was a golden. By the time we caught grayling the battery in my camera died and my extras missed getting loaded in my pack so here is a pic off the internet. All the ones we caught were 10 inches or less.

Greyling

greyling-5.jpg (51.09 KiB) Viewed 227 times

tthu, thhu, thats all Folks!

Mike

Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!

here is the tent. In background is the easy side of the talus slog. The pic is taken from the same place that Eprah's pic was taken but in the opposite direction.

Looking up toward pass between Alpine Creek and Flytrip Basin

Dave thanks for the info you provided. We found the point of departure for the cross country portion of the hike to Flytrip from your description but mark and I had to laugh at your gps coordinates since neither of us carry a gps. Also you neglected to note that the departure point was at the second ford of the creek below the lakes but we figured that out pretty easily. Which lake is "P" lake, by the way?

Mike

Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!

Mike. The true identity of P Lake is kinda a mystery to me. The references to it that I've seen are all unofficial user/trip report type documents. That said, the consensus of these is that P Lake drains into Heart Lake, so P Lake would be Lake 8646 and Heart Lake would be Lake 8562 on the following map:

Ironically, two close by lakes have shapes that look like a letter "P", Lake 8546 and the lake immediately to its north, but I've never seen anything suggesting either is named P Lake.

The Margaret Fuller mentions both Heart Lake and P lake in her Flytrip Basin trail description, but does not identify them on her map. The minimalist directions she gives to XC to them suggest they are Lakes 8562 and 8646. The larger lake that looks like a "P", lake 8546 on the map, and the lakes due south of it, reportedly contain fish. In the report with the most detailed info on these lakes, the party camped at the southern-most lake.

I hoped to see all these other lakes on our next trip, but right now neither Susan nor Chris want to return to Flytrip Basin. I may be checking out the White Clouds.

Just heart and P. "Dinner for 2" from H. P was disappointing smaller 13-14" fish. Lower of the s. most chain in the basin was pretty good to 15" Biggest fish were in the lakes I asked you about near "I."

Next year White Clouds!

Mke

Mike

Who can't do everything he used to and what he can do takes a hell of a lot longer!

The White Clouds look awesome. Quite a few fishing oriented trip reports. Larger fish seem to be in the off trail areas with Quiet Lake and Scree Lake being noted for bigger fish. Big Boulder Lakes are easier to access and fish reported to be small. Here's some background info: